Where to See UTMs in Google Analytics 4?

Trying to find your UTM campaign data in Google Analytics 4 can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. You've done the hard work of tagging your URLs, but now the analytics are lost somewhere in GA4's updated interface. This guide will show you exactly where to find your UTM data, how to build custom campaign reports, and how to analyze your marketing efforts accurately.

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A Quick Refresher: What Are UTM Parameters?

Before we navigate GA4, let's quickly review what UTM parameters are and why they're so important for marketers. UTM stands for "Urchin Tracking Module" - a name that thankfully has no bearing on its modern function. These are simple snippets of text you add to the end of a URL to help analytics tools understand where your website traffic is coming from.

There are five standard UTM parameters:

• utm_source: Identifies which site sent the traffic (e.g., google, facebook, newsletter).
• utm_medium: Identifies the marketing medium or channel (e.g., cpc, social, email).
• utm_campaign: Identifies a specific campaign or promotion (e.g., q2-sale, summer-webinar).
• utm_term: Used for paid search to identify the keywords you're targeting (e.g., data-analytics-tools).
• utm_content: Differentiates similar content or links within the same ad. For example, if you have two CTA buttons in one email, you might use top-button and bottom-button.

When combined, they create a detailed tracking URL like this:

https://www.yourwebsite.com/?utm_source=facebook&amp,utm_medium=social&amp,utm_campaign=summer-promo&amp,utm_content=video-ad-1

This tells you that anyone who clicked this link came from Facebook, via a social media post, as part of your "summer-promo" campaign, and specifically clicked on "video-ad-1." This level of detail is critical for measuring ROI, comparing channel effectiveness, and understanding which marketing messages are resonating with your audience.

Why Is Finding UTMs Different in GA4?

If you were used to Universal Analytics (UA), you probably remember the familiar path: Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium. That straightforward report doesn't exist in the same way in Google Analytics 4, which is the main source of confusion for many marketers.

The biggest change is GA4's shift from a session-based data model to an event-based one. This changes how it attributes traffic and renames several of the dimensions you're looking for. Instead of looking for "Source" and "Medium" directly, you'll need to look for GA4's new terminology.

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Key Terminology Changes from UA to GA4:

• From Campaign to Session Campaign: Most of your UTM data will now be prefixed with "Session" in the standard reports. This refers to the source that started the session.
• Default Channel Grouping: GA4 leans heavily on its own automated channel definitions, so you might see traffic lumped into categories like "Organic Search" or "Paid Social" by default. You often have to manually change the primary dimension to see your specific UTMs.

Here’s how to map the parameters you create to the dimensions you'll find in GA4 reports:

• utm_source maps to → Source or Session source
• utm_medium maps to → Medium or Session medium
• utm_campaign maps to → Campaign or Session campaign
• utm_term maps to → Manual term or Session manual term
• utm_content maps to → Manual ad content or Session manual ad content

Knowing this mapping is the first big step. Now let's go find where these dimensions live inside GA4.

Method 1: The Standard "Traffic Acquisition" Report

The quickest way to find your basic UTM performance is within the standard Traffic acquisition report. This report shows you which sources, mediums, and campaigns started new sessions on your website.

Here's how to navigate to it and customize it:

Step 1: Navigate to the Acquisition Reports

From the left-hand navigation panel in Google Analytics 4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

Step 2: Change the Primary Dimension

By default, GA4 often shows the report with "Session default channel group" as the primary dimension. This is useful for a high-level overview, but it hides your specific UTM parameters.

To see your campaign data, click the small dropdown arrow next to "Session default channel group" and change the primary dimension to one of the following:

• Session source / medium: This combined view is familiar to Universal Analytics users.
• Session source: Lets you view traffic by just the utm_source parameter.
• Session medium: Lets you view traffic by just the utm_medium parameter.
• Session campaign: This is a crucial one that shows data based on your utm_campaign names.

Once you select "Session campaign," the report table will reload, showing you the performance metrics (like Sessions, Users, Engaged Sessions, Conversions, and Revenue) for each of the campaign names you've used in your UTMs.

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Step 3: Add a Secondary Dimension for More Detail

Often, you need more granularity than just the campaign name. For example, you might want to see which source/medium or which specific ad creative performed best within a single campaign.

To do this, click the small blue "+" button next to the primary dimension dropdown.

A search box will appear. You can now add a secondary dimension to slice your data further. Common pairings include:

• Primary: Session campaign → Secondary: Session source / medium. (To see which channels within a campaign drove traffic.)
• Primary: Session campaign → Secondary: Session manual ad content. (To A/B test which link or ad drove the most conversions.)
• Primary: Session source / medium → Secondary: Session campaign. (To cross-compare campaigns on the same channel.)

Now your report will show a detailed breakdown, allowing you to see exactly which parts of your campaigns are working best.

Method 2: Create a Custom Campaign Report in the Library

Drilling down with secondary dimensions every single time can get tedious. For a more permanent solution, you can create a dedicated "UTM Campaigns" report and add it directly to your main navigation menu. You do this in the "Library."

Step 1: Go to the Library and Create a New Report

In the Reports section, click on Library at the bottom of the left-hand navigation menu. Then, click the + Create new report button and select "Create detail report."

Step 2: Build Your Report

You can start from a blank template or use Traffic acquisition as a base. Let's start blank to learn the process.

• On the right-hand panel under Report data, click Dimensions. Add the dimensions you want to analyze. Be sure to include Session campaign, Session source / medium, Session manual term, and Session manual ad content. Choose Session campaign and set it as the default primary dimension.
• Next, click Metrics. Add all the key metrics you want to see, such as Sessions, Engaged sessions, Conversions, Total users, and Total revenue.

As you add these, you will see a preview of your report being built on the left. Once you're happy, click Save and name it something memorable, like "UTM Campaign Performance."

Step 3: Add the New Report to Your Navigation

Saving the report isn't enough, you also have to add it to your navigation so it's easy to access.

• While still in the Library, find the Collections section. This is what builds your main navigation menu.
• Click Edit collection on the Life Cycle collection (this is the most common one to edit).
• You'll see a list of existing reports on the right. Find the "UTM Campaign Performance" report you just created and drag it from the right column to the left column under the Acquisition topic.
• Click Save and select "Save changes to current collection."

Now, when you reload your Reports dashboard, you'll see your custom report right in the main navigation for single-click access anytime.

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Method 3: Go Deeper with "Explore" Reports

The Explore section is GA4's superpower. It lets you create highly customized, flexible analyses that go far beyond standard reports.

If you need to analyze your UTM data with advanced segments or unique visualizations, a Free-Form Exploration is the tool for the job.

1. Navigate to the Explore section from the main left-hand sidebar.
2. Start a new Free-form exploration.
3. In the Variables column, you'll need to import the dimensions and metrics you want to use.
4. Once imported into the Variables column, drag and drop the dimensions and metrics into the Tab Settings column. For example:

Instantly, you'll have a pivot table showing the performance of each campaign broken down by source and medium. Explorations let you answer complex questions like, "Which combination of campaign and ad creative drove the highest revenue from users in the United States?" by applying filters and segments that aren't available in standard reports.

UTM Best Practices to Keep Your Data Clean

Finding the data is only half the battle. If your UTM tagging is messy, your reports will be too. Follow these simple rules to ensure your analytics are accurate and easy to read.

• Be Consistent with Naming: facebook, Facebook, and FB are all seen as different sources by Google Analytics. Choose a naming convention and stick to it. Always use lowercase letters to avoid this issue.
• Use Hyphens, Not Spaces: Spaces in URLs can cause strange formatting issues. Use hyphens (-) or underscores (_) instead. For example, use summer-sale instead of summer sale.
• Don't Use UTMs for Internal Links: Never tag links that point from one page of your site to another with UTMs. This will overwrite the original traffic source and incorrectly start a new session, which heavily corrupts your attribution data.
• Use a URL Builder: Manually typing UTMs is a recipe for typos. Use Google's GA4 Campaign URL Builder or maintain a shared spreadsheet to ensure consistency across your team.

Final Thoughts

Digging into UTM-tagged campaign data in GA4 is simple once you know the new terminology and where to click. Whether you use the standard Traffic Acquisition report for a quick look or build out customized views in the Library and Explore sections, all the data you need to assess your marketing ROI is available at your fingertips.

Staying on top of this can feel like constant busywork - logging in, changing dimensions, adding filters, and exporting data just to see what's working. With Graphed, we automate the entire reporting process. After a one-click connection to your Google Analytics account, you can simply ask for the reports you need in plain English. Instead of building a report manually, just say, "Show me my top 5 campaigns by conversion rate last month," and get an instant, real-time dashboard, saving you from ever hunting through GA4 menus again.